NEW! ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITY

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How To Build Bigger, Better, And More Active Communities

Richard Millingtonwww.feverbee.com

richard@feverbee.com@RichMillington

Higher Logic Webinar

What are most community professionals doing wrong?

http://course.feverbee.com/CommunityManagementFramework.pdf

There are three ways to stimulate activity in an online community

1) Discussions

2) Events & Activities

3) Content

Avoid this >

and this >

and this >

and this >

How do real people talk to one another?

How do real people talk to one another?

How do real people talk to one another?

Basic Rhetoric Strategies of Initiating A Discussion

5 elements of solicitinguseful knowledge exchange

1) Who asks the question?

2) What is the subject line?

3) The type of discussion

4) The content of the message

5) Number of replies

6) Frequency of posts

If you want an answer, ask a question(Mix open/closed questions)

ScienceForums.net

Types of questions• Open questions (“What do you think about.....?”)

• Closed questions (“Do you think that {x} is {y}?”)

• Specific questions (“How much did you spend on....?”)

• Hypothetical questions (“What would you do if....?”)

Benefits of specific/closed questions

• Easier to answer

• Less social risk of wrong answer format

• Everyone can answer

• Leads to participation in more difficult questions

There are three types of discussions

1) Conveying Information

2) Bonding

3) Status-Jockeying

Bonding Status Jockeying

Conveying Information

Initiate, encourage, and highlight discussions which facilitate self-disclosure

Steal popular discussions

Simple Bonding/Status Questions

• How did you become interested in...?

• What was your biggest achievement...?

• What is your average day like?

• What would you change if .... ?

Content of the message

1) Immediate to the point

2) Short, simple, words and sentences

3) Call to action (ask who/why)

4) Length of post (100 to 250 words)

5) Include your own testimonial (why you, why now?)

• Respond within 24 hours

• Acknowledge unique/useful material, but...

• Avoid generic terms “thank you for the question”

• Ask a clarifying question (or two)

• Add your own thoughts/opinions

• Mention other members by name who might have an opinion

• Nudge members to participate

• Turn the discussions into resources/columns/documented info

# of replies: sustaining discussions

Menu of discussions

Action Points1) Plan out what discussions you will initiate over the next month (at least 1 every 2 days).

2) Turn popular self-disclosure discussions into sticky threads.

3) Review popular communities and steal their best discussions.

Initiate regular events & activities for your community

Regular Irregular

Online

WebinarsThemed DiscussionsWeekly interviewCompetition / ChallengesNewcomer orientationPromotional daysChristmas, easter, national holidaysAwardsNamed days

Elections

MilestonesFundraising daysMember achievementsBroader victories/celebrationsProduct launchesMember achievementsHall of fame introduction

Guest speakers/VIP chats

Offline

Weekly/Monthly meet-upsDecentralized gatheringsAnnual gatherings

Christmas/New Year

ExhibitionsProduct-launchesConferencesTrade showsThemed partiesEntertainment showsUnconferences

Spontaneous meets

Create content about the community

Types of content

• Announcements

• News

• Latest events

• New members

• Latest/Most popular discussions

• Member contributions

• News about members

• Updates on a relevant issue

• Feature articles

• Interviews

• Analysis

• Stories/Articles

• Surveys

• Previews/Reviews

• Opinion/Guest Columns

• Thoughts

• Predictions

• Experiences

Types of content

Types of content

• Classifieds

• Jobs

• Buying/Selling

• Promotions & Advertisements

• Statements from the community

• Misc (video, audio, links etc...)

Day Activity

Monday Opinion Feature

Tuesday Guest column

Wednesday

Live-chat promo

Thursday Feature Interview

Friday Job/Event of the week

Saturday Welcome newcomers

Sunday Summary of the week

Managing activity means understanding social density

ScienceForums.net

Give priority to activity, not content

Action Points• Remove/combine quiet/inactive categories,

groups and features

• Dissipate activity when it becomes too concentrated

• Identify and encourage friendship groups

• Identify popular topics and build a group/place for that

• Promote these groups (and have people responsible for them)

• Position activity as the focal point of your page (not content)

www.feverbee.com/higherlogic.html

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